Bradley Cooper: Why The Hangover, Part II, "Killed" Him

In Limitless, the screen adaptation of Alan Glynn's techno-thriller novel The Dark Fields, executive producer and star Bradley Cooper plays a down on his luck writer, just dumped by his beautiful girlfriend (Abbie Cornish), who gets hooked on a mysterious drug called NZT, which boosts his capacity to focus, calculate, and act with super-human clarity. His newfound intellect vaults him into the highest ranks of corporate power brokering alongside a veteran financial tycoon (Robert DeNiro) until side-effects and new, mysterious enemies once more plunge him into desperation. The film is smart and slick, and had its own underdog-on-top moment at the box office last weekend, with an opening gross of $19 million. We spoke to Cooper about how he wooed DeNiro, his fast food indulgence, and how this May's sequel to The Hangover still has him reeling.

ELLE: Pre-NZT Eddie is a disheveled wannabe author. You studied English at Georgetown—did you ever rock Eddie's schlubby writer look?BC: Yeah, I had really long hair all through college. And I definitely walked around with Nabokov's Lolita in my jacket pocket for a year. Stuff like that.

ELLE: What are you reading these days?BC: Right now I'm rereading The Rise of Endymion by Dan Simmons, who is just the greatest sci-fi writer.

ELLE: After taking NZT, Eddie goes from schmuck to stud. After all the training and filming on a movie like Limitless or A-Team is over, do you ever just ditch the gym and pig out?BC: Well, it always depends on what the role requires, but I've definitely been eating my share of pappardelle pasta and Egg McMuffins lately.

ELLE: Post-NZT Eddie becomes a stock market wunderkind. Your dad was a stockbroker. Did any of him sneak into your character?BC: Oh yeah, a huge amount, actually. I spent most of my childhood attempting to dress, look and talk like a stockbroker—like my father. So I was very comfortable in that role.

ELLE: I hear that Robert De Niro is a man of few words. Did you guys talk on your down time?BC: Yeah. I don't know why, but he isn't a man of few words with me. We just talk about everything.

ELLE: Had you met him before?BC: I'd met him a few times—I asked him a question when he came in to the Actors Studio, which is where I went to school after Georgetown. And when I was a judge at the Tribeca Film Festival, which he co-founded, I had lunch with him and with like 40 other people. He didn't remember any of those things.

ELLE: This was your first movie as executive producer, which meant you had to pitch to DeNiro to bring him on board as Carl, a financial tycoon who enlists Eddie's services. How'd you feel making the pitch?BC: I was excited and beyond nervous. But what I knew about him was that he's not a big small talker, so when I sat down there was no "How'd your flight go?" or "How's the weather in LA." It was just: "So. You'd play Carl Van Loon..."
ELLE: What do people quote back to you the most—Wet Hot American Summer, Wedding Crashers, or The Hangover?BC:Wedding Crashers. "Crab cakes and football, that's what Maryland does!"

ELLE: The Hangover Part II opens in May. The original was wild, but we hear this one ups the ante even more.BC: The hardest shoot I've ever done, by far, not even comparable. I thought nothing would be harder than A-Team, but this was. I don't know why. Todd Phillips, the director, feels the same way, and so do Zach Galifianakis and Ed Helms feel the same way. One thing people won't say is that we just walked through this movie. We put it out there, man. God, we killed ourselves.

Nojan AminoshareiNojan Aminosharei books talent for digital celebrity features across all Hearst sites, including ELLE, Harper’s Bazaar, and Marie Claire.

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